A Project Management Tool for Every Designer

If you’re still using to-do lists, checklists, voice reminders and sticky notes to manage your projects, I encourage you to consider switching to a project management tool.  Whether you’re a sole practitioner or a large A&D firm, there is a tool to suit your needs.  The time you invest up front in getting familiar with the product and setting up your projects will be compensated for many times over in greater control, fewer errors and missed deadlines, and improved productivity.

Like so much business software, project management tools have really come of age with the advent of cloud-based products and smart device apps. They are much more visual and interactive. While there are a variety of products to choose from, the following are ones we’ve found work well for managing interior design projects.

For sole practitioners and smaller projects, you might want to give Trello a try.  Trello is a cloud-based product that you can access from your computer, tablet or smartphone.  Created for those who are more visually oriented, it uses a board environment to set up and manage projects.  For each task or task group in the project, you simply create a card and drop it on the board.  A card could be a to-do list, idea or reminder.  Cards can be customized to add images, assign tasks to team members, indicate the status of a task or group of tasks (to-do, doing, done), attach a file, or link to product information on a vendor website.  All the members of the team can log in to view the project board and to communicate through the built in comment and conversation function.  The basic product is free, with an unlimited number of members and boards.  A more robust version is available for $8.33 a month.

More detailed and versatile is Asana, another cloud-based tool.  You can use Asana to manage your own tasks and/or to manage projects and teams.  It allows you to aggregate tasks into projects or initiatives, or to breakdown projects into tasks that you then can assign to various team members; attach files to tasks; set deadline dates and times; and track progress.  Asana includes a number of different views that allow you to manage an entire project from the micro/team member/task level to the macro/project level.  Everyone on the team can see everyone else’s tasks and project, and communicate with one another through the platform’s chat function. You can also recognize and commend team members with a “thumbs up” or “heart” icon.  The basic product, which allows for up to 15 members, with a limited number of projects, is free.  The more fully featured premium product costs $8.33 a month, or less for small teams.

Another cloud-based tool that emphasizes team over tasks, Dapulse markets itself as the alternative to project management software. Combining project management with social media community, it encourages team interaction and motivation. Its highly visual interface makes it easy to see what tasks are assigned to each stage of a project and who has responsibility for them.  Like Asana, dapulse provides a variety of views to help you track progress by project stage, task, subteam, due dates, etc.  A simple color-coding system makes it easy to get a quick overview of progress at a glance, and to publicly recognize team members for their achievements.  It also allows everyone on the team to see what is happening with the project in real time and incorporates a communication / comment chat function.  It comes with a number of templates to reduce set up time.  You can sign up for 30-day no-risk free trial.  Pricing, which starts at $25 per month, is based on the numbers of users you have and the number of features you need. The platform is scalable to accommodate from 1 up to more than 1000 members.

Developed to manage highly complex projects, Microsoft Project is one the oldest and still widely used computer-based project management software.  Project allows you add a great deal of detail to each task, including budgeting and resource allocation information, and to produce a number of reports, as well as track projects using a variety of views.  One of its strongest features is the ability to assign contingencies, so you can see which tasks in a project need to be completed in order to proceed to the next stage of the project. When due dates are assigned to tasks, Project automatically adjusts the project calendar to account for contingencies and delays that may occur later.  Project is not for everyone. Its enormous array of features and details require a substantial learning curve to master, both for project managers and team members using the system.  It is also pricey.  The 2016 version lists at $589 for a single user or $1,159 for a server version.

Each of these tools has its strengths and shortcomings.  Which you decide to use will depend in part on your preferences for how you like to track and manage data and the extent to which you want to use the tool to manage your team as well.  I suggest you try a couple before making a decision of which to go with.  With a little experience, I think you will discover a whole new way of looking at and managing your projects and team. You may never want to go back to sticky notes again!

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